God Save the Queen, my Lord

So, I went to court yesterday, and it was actually super interesting. Things I have learned:

1. After the justice walks in and they say "all rise," they finish with saying "God save the Queen." I'm not kidding. How awesome is that?

2. The justices call the other justices "my brother" or "my sister" and the attorneys refer to each other as "my friend" instead of "opposing counsel." I love that. Ah, we friendly Canadians!

3. If you have to leave the court room early or come in late, you bow to the bench. Like in church. Really.

4. Instead of having a table on the right for the prosecution and a table on the left for the defence (not defense), there are two long tables one right in front of the other. The Crown (the state) sits in the front and the defence sits in the back.

5. This is what judges wear:
The red robes are for justices and lawyers wear what the guy on the right is wearing to court complete with tie scarf thingy. The robes look almost like graduation robes. They all wear these jackets which really look like vests with sleeves under their robes and then a collared shirt under that. Very dapper... No wigs, though. when I went to Dublin, all the judges and the barristers wore wigs and frilly collars. The women didn't have to wear wigs, but they did have lace collars. I kinda like the formalities. The court reporters and schedulers and judicial assistants in the room all have to wear robes too, but they don't wear a collar or have the red on the robes. They just look like regular graduation robes.

That's the Chief Judge of the NS Supreme Court in the middle. He's REALLY nice and is really viewing my experience here as a learning experience. He made sure to invite me in on his sentencing hearing and explained to me before hand what I would be seeing, and filling me in on the relevant points of law. I wonder if he was ever a professor. He would have made a great one. I think he also took pity on me and my cave of an office (see below), and found me a real office with a view of the harbor. The Supreme Court justices are roaming justices and some of them take turns going out into the counties and hearing cases for a few months. So, one person is going to be gone for the summer, and I'll get his or her office. I'm really excited!

I sat in on a scheduling hearing, a sentencing hearing for armed robbery, a forfeiture hearing (the guy didn't make it to a court date and so he was about to lose his bond), a few domestic dispute cases (really wild ones there. People calling out from the gallery to speak to the judge), and a person who wanted to change the terms of his parole. I was having a really hard time staying focused because Robin and I went out the night before and I was tired. We saw High School Musical on Stage and got yelled at for taking pictures.

Robin with Troy and Gabriella

Fave pic of the night

The girl who played Gabriella (Elena Juatco) was absolutely fantastic. She placed 6th at Canadian Idol a few seasons ago. The guy who played Ryan was also phenomenal. I'd buy his CD if he ever came out with one. All the cast was good, but those were the standouts. They have the core cast and then the supporting roles are all locally cast from the universities and stuff around town, so that's kinda nice. I'm thinking about going and seeing it again. Tickets were only $15 CDN (about $12 US), and the theatre was pretty small, so all the seats were good seats. Plus, I have some pictures that I need to take since Robin got us in trouble and I wasn't able to get some from the end of the show.

Then we went to this AWESOME Irish pub across the street called Durty Nelly's and met up with one of my roommates and had a few drinks. The place was great. There was live music which was really just a bunch of locals who brought their instruments and sat around a large table with their pints all on it and jammed. It really did remind me a lot of Dublin's pubs only much, much larger since most Dublin pubs are small. The people were fantastic and the local house brew was tastey. There was a birthday party next to us (Happy Birthday, Stacy!), and we somehow got in on that and they bought us shots. On our way out the door, we saw the cast of HSM having a few drinks after the show. I wish we went up to them, but they definitely knew we saw them because they were staring at us. It didn't help that we went up twice to the window after we had left to look and see if it was them. The next day Robin saw Troy at a crosswalk and tried to fumble around to get a picture of him, but he dashed away. I think he recognized her from the night before and didn't want to stop to chit chat. This is why I am really enjoying Halifax. The city is soo small that you will see these people around town, something that would never happen in a big city like Atlanta or Toronto. Love it!

PS - am wearing lime green cardigan despite the grey on black monochromatic wardrobe choices here in NS. It's a dreary day and I needed some color! I will hold strong and not be influenced by others. My mother would be so proud.

Note: I have been told that my Canadian spelling is poor. It should be "colour" and not "color." I humbly beg your forgiveness.
Next post - words I have learned or places I have eaten or places to shop.